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Registered Member Program
The SME Registered Member program is to allow SME members to meet one of the criteria to be Qualified Persons for the purposes of public reporting of scientific and technical information by a registrant under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) requirements for Disclosure by Registrants Engaged in Mining Operations in Regulation S-K 1300 (S-K 1300).
S-K 1300 requires that an organization be a reputable professional association (see §229.1300 (Item 1300) Definitions). The criteria required of the SME to meet the definition of a “reputable professional association” under S-K 1300 are:
- An organization recognized within the mining industry as a reputable professional association; and
- Admits eligible members primarily on the basis of their academic qualifications and experience; and
- Establishes and requires compliance with professional standards of competence and ethics; and
- Requires or encourages continuing professional development; and
- Has and applies disciplinary powers, including the power to suspend or expel a member regardless of where the member practices or resides; and
- Provides a public list of members in good standing.
S-K 1300 also defines what a Qualified Person is (see §229.1300 (Item 1300) Definitions). The individual, at a minimum, must be:
- A mineral industry professional with at least five years of relevant experience in the type of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and in the specific type of activity that person is undertaking on behalf of the registrant; and
- An eligible member or licensee in good standing of a recognized professional organization at the time the technical report summary is prepared.
Registered Member Requirements
The SME Registered Member category incorporates the Qualified Person definition within S-K 1300, but the SME has additional requirements of Registered Member Candidates and of those acting as endorsers for a Registered Member Candidate application.
SME Registered Member category is open to any individual that meets the following criteria:
- A scientist, engineer, or technologist who is involved with the discovery, extraction and utilization of minerals, metals and energy sources. The membership includes geologists, geoscientists, mining engineers and metallurgists, environmental engineers, and other scientists, engineers, and technologists.
- Has a university degree from a U.S. accredited university or a recognized overseas university*; and
- Must have a minimum of seven (7) years of professional experience**, of which at least three (3) must have been in a position of responsibility, defined as one in which the individual was depended on for significant participation, management, and decision making; and the applicant should show that they are capable of evaluating, supervising and checking relevant work to ensure it meets industry standards; and
- Applicant must satisfy and demonstrate one of the following conditions:
- Licensed or Certified in a state of the United States that is a member of the National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG); or
- Certified by the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) as a Certified Professional Geologist; or
- Professional Engineer (PE) licensed or certified in a state of the United States, (PEng) licensed or certified in a province in Canada; or
- Professional Geologist (PGeo) in a province in Canada; or
- The applicant will need three endorsements from three current SME Registered Members***. Those serving as endorsers must complete the SME Registered Member Verification Form.
*University degree must be in fields related in various ways to the discovery, extraction and utilization of minerals, metals, and energy sources. Applicants must submit transcripts with their full coursework that confirms graduation in a related field. If more than one degree was earned, then the applicant must at the very least submit the degree and transcripts most relevant to the applicant's situation leading them to apply to the SME Registered Member Program.
**Professional experience must be in the mineral and extractive industries, or in government, educational, research, professional or commercial organizations concerned with those industries.
***Those serving as endorsers must satisfy the following criteria: they must have worked directly with the applicant for a minimum of one year in the last 10 years and they must be current SME Registered Members. The form must be sent directly to the SME office in Englewood, Colorado. An online Registered Member Directory is available to the public.
Apply for SME Registered Membership
To apply for SME Registered Membership the following documents and actions must be submitted before the committee will consider the application for review:
- A completed SME Registered Member application; and
- A personal statement indicating why the applicant is seeking SME Registered Membership; and
- A complete curriculum vitae or resume with chronological detail for all work performed within and outside the industry, not just representative projects; this must include information on positions of responsibility; and
- A copy of diplomas, degrees and official transcripts showing full coursework; and confirming graduation (see above for education requirements); and
- Review and accept the terms outlined in the SME Code of Ethics; and
- Proof of current licensure or certification in accepted certified options; or
- Three verification forms submitted by three current SME Registered Members; verifiers must be submitted directly to SME headquarters.
To apply, submit your documents via email or mail as instructed below:
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email documents to membership@smenet.org
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or mail documents to SME Registered Membership, 12999 E Adam Aircraft Cir, Englewood, CO 80112
For questions regarding the Registered Member application process please contact SME at 303-948-4200 or membership@smenet.org.
The Registered Member (RM) SME Committee would like to remind RM candidates that the awarding of Registered Member status does not necessarily mean that you are a Qualified Person under Regulation S-K, Subpart 1300, Definitions.
Please review the “Qualified Person” and “relevant experience” definitions (reproduced below for your convenience) prior to agreeing to acting as a Qualified Person to ensure you meet all of the requirements. Being an RM SME is only one of the criteria to be met.
§229.1300 (Item 1300) Definitions.
Qualified person is an individual who is:
2. An eligible member or licensee in good standing of a recognized professional organization at the time the technical report is prepared. For an organization to be a recognized professional organization, it must:
i. Be either:
A. An organization recognized within the mining industry as a reputable professional association; or
B. board authorized by U.S. federal, state or foreign statute to regulate professionals in the mining, geoscience or related field;
(ii) Admit eligible members primarily on the basis of their academic qualifications and experience;
(iii) Establish and require compliance with professional standards of competence and ethics;
(iv) Require or encourage continuing professional development;
(v) Have and apply disciplinary powers, including the power to suspend or expel a member regardless of where the member practices or resides; and
(vi) Provide a public list of members in good standing.
Relevant experience means, for purposes of determining whether a party is a qualified person, that the party has experience in the specific type of activity that the person is undertaking on behalf of the registrant. If the qualified person is preparing or supervising the preparation of a technical report concerning exploration results, the relevant experience must be in exploration. If the qualified person is estimating, or supervising the estimation of mineral resources, the relevant experience must be in the estimation, assessment and evaluation of mineral resources and associated technical and economic factors likely to influence the prospect of economic extraction. If the qualified person is estimating, or supervising the estimation of mineral reserves, the relevant experience must be in engineering and other disciplines required for the estimation, assessment, evaluation and economic extraction of mineral reserves.
1. Relevant experience also means, for purposes of determining whether a party is a qualified person, that the party has experience evaluating the specific type of mineral deposit under consideration (e.g., coal, metal, base metal, industrial mineral, or mineral brine). The type of experience necessary to qualify as relevant is a facts and circumstances determination. For example, experience in a high-nugget, vein-type mineralization such as tin or tungsten would likely be relevant experience for estimating mineral resources for vein-gold mineralization, whereas experience in a low grade disseminated gold deposit likely would not be relevant.
Note 1 to paragraph (1) of the definition of relevant experience: It is not always necessary for a person to have five years' experience in each and every type of deposit in order to be an eligible qualified person if that person has relevant experience in similar deposit types. For example, a person with 20 years' experience in estimating mineral resources for a variety of metalliferous hard-rock deposit types may not require as much as five years of specific experience in porphyry-copper deposits to act as a qualified person. Relevant experience in the other deposit types could count towards the experience in relation to porphyry-copper deposits.
2. For a qualified person providing a technical report for exploration results or mineral resource estimates, relevant experience also requires, in addition to experience in the type of mineralization, sufficient experience with the sampling and analytical techniques, as well as extraction and processing techniques, relevant to the mineral deposit under consideration. Sufficient experience means that level of experience necessary to be able to identify, with substantial confidence, problems that could affect the reliability of data and issues associated with processing.
3. For a qualified person applying the modifying factors, as defined by this section, to convert mineral resources to mineral reserves, relevant experience also requires:
(i) Sufficient knowledge and experience in the application of these factors to the mineral deposit under consideration; and
(ii) Experience with the geology, geostatistics, mining, extraction and processing that is applicable to the type of mineral and mining under consideration.
We also remind you that it is the registrant (the mining or exploration company) that is responsible for identifying the appropriate Qualified Persons for reporting purposes, not the SME, under Regulation S-K, Subpart 1302, Qualified Person, technical report summary, and technical studies.
§229.1302 (Item 1302) Qualified person, technical report summary, and technical studies.
2. The registrant is responsible for determining that the person meets the qualifications specified under the definition of qualified person in §229.1300, and that the disclosure in the registrant's filing accurately reflects the information provided by the qualified person.
The regulations can be found on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website through the following link:
https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/secg-modernization-property-disclosures-mining-registrants
The adopting release can be found at:
https://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2018/33-10570.pdf